A compilation of texts by different authors in a language, which seems especially useful for the teaching of ebian language, is described as Chrestomathy. Above all, fonts are used in prose. In general language usage, and especially since the modern age, however, chestomathy means any collection of selected texts and text excerpts, which is intended for the lesson, and thereby bundles the most important authors of a country. In contrast to the anthology, which also refers to a (subject-related) collection of individual texts, in the case of chestomathy, the main focus is that it should actually be learned with it. Consequently, this compilation represents a pre-form of today’s reading book.
The term is composed of the Greek words chrestós, which means useful, and matheín, which means learning together. Consequently, the translation of the term refers to what is at issue in general: namely, something that appears to be useful for learning, and in this case, this is a collection of texts which appear particularly useful to select a particular language by means of selected texts in the respective language of the country learn. In most cases, this is a question of prosetics.
Chrestomathy follows in most cases a structure which traces the transition from the light to the heavy. In the beginning there are texts which are quite easy to understand for students and in the course of the reading the texts become more complex and difficult. In some cases, individual vocabularies, which are necessary for the understanding of the respective passages, are explained on the margin or in a footnote (see Glossary), or simply translated between the lines of the text (see Interlinearglosse).
In addition, there are compilations that bundle the most useful, ie (subjectively) best, works of an author and are also conceived under the concept of Chrestomathy. Such compositions have been particularly popular since the eighteenth century, with works by Herodotus, Thucydides, Cicero, Livius, Horace, Ovid and other Latin and Greek poets.
These compilations are usually intended to be useful for learning, or illustrate an author’s literary work by way of example, but the term has also been applied to other collections in the past centuries. Amongst others, he published chapters on economics, pedagogy and philosophy, which worked out important writings on a particular area.
Sometimes the term is also used synonymously with the anthology, but the emphasis is not on the fact that the compilation is supposed to teach, but above all, that any subject should be examined as comprehensively as possible by means of ebendieser Zusammenstellung.
Examples
Silvestre de Sacy: Chrestomathy Arabe (1806)
Alexandre Vinet: Chrestomathie française (1829)
Bernhard Dorn: A Chrestomathy of the Pushtu or Afghan language (1847)
Caspar Decurtins: Romansh Chrestomathy (1896-1919)
Henri Sensine: Chrestomathie Francaise du XIXème Siècle (1901)
Bruno Lewin: Japanese Chrestomathy (1965)
Frido Mětšk: Chrestomatija dolnoserbskego pismowstwa (Lower Sorbian Scriptures, 1956/1957)
